Tuesday, January 5, 2010

This giveaway is now closed. The winnings go to comment #34, chosen by Random.org. Congratulations Beth!

What better way to kick off a new year than by offering a fantastic, and educational, giveaway to our dear readers? If you have children between the ages of 3 and 8 you are going to love what My Storytime Friends has to offer!

The My Storytime Friends kit includes a plush stuffed animal, a beautifully illustrated hard cover story book, and membership to My Storytime Friends online & Book of the Month club. The My Storytime Friends membership includes: a new free book each month, online games, learning tools, and audio versions of all stories.

Upon arrival, each Storytime Friend is registered on the website with a unique code. After registration the kids had full access to the interactive website including: a post office, library, newsstand, friend store, and more. Their first stop was the library where we chose the option of reading the interactive audio book. Gavin especially enjoyed following along with the childlike watercolor illustrations on each page of the story. The book, A Winning Dream, is about Brady Bear who finds his talent at skiing and uses it to help rescue a little bear in trouble. The book's theme is about overcoming challenges, finding your strengths, and using them to help others. Although there was quite a bit of text per page, the length of the story was just right for keeping their 5 and 3 year old attention (and giving me enough time to throw dinner in the crock pot while they sat by me in the kitchen - double bonus!!).

This book, like all of the others offered by My Storytime Friends, is written by the award winning author Andrew Wolfendon. Themes focus on helping others and achieving dreams.

Similar to the Build a Bear concept, My Storytime Friends offer a fun line of dress up clothes: playwear, fanciful fashion, character costumes, and jammies, making the plush bear a fun toy as well as an educational assistant. I tried not to let the kids go crazy on this part of the site, but they did ooh and aah over a couple of the cute outfit options.

With each book of the month Storytime Friends gives you the option of downloading and printing the book, printing a corresponding coloring book, listening to an interactive audio book, downloading the MP3 of the book, or using the hard copy to read. As a former classroom teacher I can see the benefits of each of these methods as students read, re-read, and practice retelling to display their comprehension. I especially love the MP3 options as I used to find myself reading story after story onto cassette tapes for classroom use.

The site also gives older children the opportunity to post a review of each book that they interact with. This is an authentic way to practice important writing skills, as well as story recall.

After reviewing the product and site, it is exciting to imagine all the possibilities My Storytime Friends offer for children for both academic and entertainment purposes. If you'd like to hear more about the product you may enjoy reading Katie's, Katie's Nesting Spot, review as well.

I am a pre-k reader and we have used webkinz in school but I love this idea so much more. You should become a follower of my blog I do a lot of reading ideas you could post on your site, including a huge Q and U wedding with a book.love the giveaway